The Coolest Sports Photography Contest of the Year Returns
Inspiring and educating photographers is the mission of the Sports Shooter Academy. Our annual contest is intended to recognize and promote the best in sports photography.
The Sports Shooter Academy Annual Contest for 2022 will be divided into two categories. The student portfolio category is for full-time college and university students and the open category is for any photographer.
The primary sponsor of the SSA Annual Contest is Nikon Professional Services. Other companies supporting the contest are: Think Tank Photo, PhotoShelter and PocketWizard. The contest entry fee includes access to the virtual interactive judging sessions and two seminars featuring speakers showing their work and discussing the “Tokyo & Beijing: The Covid Olympics.”
Submission Deadline:
April 17, 2022 |11:59PM Pacific Time
2020 SSA Open Winner|Kevin M. Cox, The Galveston County Daily News
Open Category
Open to all photographers
Images must have been taken during calendar year 2021
Open to sports action and sports features
Entries limited to 10 images per entrant
Full captions required
Digital editing of images should be limited to cropping and color correction; digital manipulated images will disqualify an entry and is at the discretion of the judges
2020 SSA Student Portfolio winner|Eakin Howard, Rochester Institute of Technology
Student Sports Portfolio Category
Open to all students that were enrolled in a college and university in 2021
Images must have been taken during calendar year 2021
Portfolio submissions should have a minimum of 8 images and no more than 12
Diversity of image types (action and features), sports and techniques should be considered
Full captions required
Digital editing of images should be limited to cropping and color correction; digital manipulated images will disqualify an entry and is at the discretion of the judges
All winners in the student category receive a month of the new Sports Shooter Academy Mentor Program. The SSA Mentor program gives students and young photographers the opportunity to work directly with workshop instructors. During their mentorship they will get feedback on their work, discuss techniques, the creative process and receive specific assignment designed to improve their photography. The full rollout of the Sports Shooter Academy Mentor Program will be announced later in the year.
Preparing Your Entry
Full caption removing photographer’s byline
Full name and entity image was created for in “Creator/Photographer”
File type: .JPG
Color Space: AdobeRGB
Image Size: 1500 pixels minimum on the longest side
Resolution: 300 dpi
Files saved at medium compression
File naming convention: unique name_category.number
Example: johnd_student.001 & joesmith_open.001
Place all files into a folder labeled with your unique name and Zip the files
Awards:
All Sports Shooter Academy Annual Contest winners will receive a free website provided by PhotoShelter.
All Entrants will receive a discount on PhotoShelter services.
Open
1st Place | $2500 Nikon Store credit
2nd Place | Think Tank Photo Products
3rd Place | Pocket Wizard III
Student Sports Portfolio
1st Place | $1500 Nikon Store credit; 1 month of Sports Shooter Academy Mentor Program
2nd Place | Think Tank Photo Products; 1 month of Sports Shooter Academy Mentor Program
3rd Place | Pocket Wizard III; 1 month of Sports Shooter Academy Mentor Program
SSA Alumni
- Registration for contestants who have attended an SSA workshop
- Discount on Photo Shelter Services
- Entry into the virtual interactive judging sessions
- Entry into the Sports Shooter Academy 2022 virtual lecture series
Student Registration
- Registration for contestants who attended college in 2021
- Discount on Photo Shelter Services
- Entry into the virtual interactive judging sessions
- Entry into the Sports Shooter Academy 2022 virtual lecture series
Regular Registration
- General registration for contestants
- Discount on Photo Shelter Services
- Entry into the virtual interactive judging sessions
- Entry into the Sports Shooter Academy 2022 virtual lecture series
Disclaimer: By submitting images to the Sports Shooter Academy Annual Contest, the Entrant confirms that all images submitted were captured by the Entrant. The Entrant agrees to allow the Sports Shooter Academy and Sports Shooter, Inc. to publish submissions for non-commercial, promotional use. Entrant or entity entrant captured images retain all copyright of submitted images. Prizes and awards for the Sports Shooter Academy Annual Contest are provided by the contest sponsoring companies and will be shipped to winners directly from these companies. Entries can be disqualified for not abiding by the contest rules. All decisions by the contest administrators and judging panel are final.